Party vote

Te ao Māori

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the foundational document for government in NZ and it remains central to current politics. Te reo Māori is more widely heard in public and taught in schools, tikanga Māori is being recognised by the legal system, and many historical Tiriti claims have been settled. But political struggle continues, as recent debates over co-governance show. For parties on the left, co-governance represents the next step in honouring the commitments made under te Tiriti, while some parties on the right say it is a threat to democracy.

Te ao Māori

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the foundational document for government in NZ and it remains central to current politics. Te reo Māori is more widely heard in public and taught in schools, tikanga Māori is being recognised by the legal system, and many historical Tiriti claims have been settled. But political struggle continues, as recent debates over co-governance show. For parties on the left, co-governance represents the next step in honouring the commitments made under te Tiriti, while some parties on the right say it is a threat to democracy.

Key policiesLand and resourcesTe Tiriti o Waitangi and governanceTe reo Māori and cultureWellbeing and services

  • Develop credit system to encourage conservation on private land

    Continue to invest in Te Haeata, the online database of Treaty commitments

    Investigate a fast-track process for recognition of Māori landmarks and street names

    Create a process for community-led rāhui

    Increase funding and support for statistical data about whānau Māori

    Consider funding iwi and hapū to protect and display tāonga tūturu

    Continue to invest in housing for Māori

    Support Māori to better access funds to install sustainable infrastructure on marae and papakainga

    Introduce a papakainga planning standard

    Make funding for Māori health providers equitable

    Promote Te Reo Māori in early childhood education

    Expand te reo Māori education programmes

    Encourage government agencies and organisations to develop Te Reo Māori language development plans

    Increase funding for Māori language revitalisation strategies

    Invest in the growth of the Māori food and fibre export sector

    Continue to fund free Māori trade training

    Continue to fund Matariki events and celebrations

    Continue to fund Te Matatini

    Continue to support Māori Crown relations – Te Arawhiti

    Encourage local councils and boards to create Māori wards

    Retain Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority

    Investigate support for Wānanga

    Ensure that career services are available to Māori students

    Continue working with iwi and hapū to include local tikanga and pūrakau in the curriculum

    Continue to support Māori media

    Consider supporting Māori language community initiatives

    Increas funding for Te Reo Māori revitalisation

    Support indigenous tourism opportunities

    Continue programme to provide young Māori with a path out of criminal offending

    Continue programmes to lower the proportion of Māori in the corrections system

    Continue to support Jobs for Nature projects

    Protect Māori commercial and customary fishing rights

    Support iwi and hapū-led solutions to protect sites affected by sea level rises

    Consider a fund for Māori climate change researchers and scientists

    Recognise Māori expertise in indigenous development in connection with international projects

    Protect indigenous intellectual property rights in trade agreements

    Continue supporting progressive home ownership funds for Māori

    Explore low interest loan finance and grants for housing projects for whānau

    Provide more opportunities for whānau visits in prisons using new technology

    Improve study and employment options for Māori health workers

  • Abolish Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority

  • Oppose co-governance

  • Abolish the Human Rights Commission

    Abolish Te Puni Kōkiri

    Replace the Office for Crown-Māori Relations with an Office of Treaty Settlements

    Remove a public holiday

    Hold a referendum on the interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi

    Repeal all or part of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act

    Repeal the Treaty of Waitangi clause in the Oranga Tamariki Act

    Remove Ngāi Tahu representatives from the Canterbury Regional Council

    Remove government agencies' focus on the Treaty of Waitangi

    Prevent the implementation of Māori seats on Auckland Council

    Abolish Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority

    Ignore the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

    Expand water supply exemption to include suppliers of fewer than 30 users

    Remove Te Mana o te Wai from freshwater resource consenting

    Abolish Māori wards

  • Establish a Māori legal aid service

    Establish a Māori criminal justice system based on tikanga

    Change NZ's name to Aotearoa by 2026

    Replace all place names with their original Māori names by 2026

    Establish a Māori Standards Authority

    Increase funding for Te Aka Whai Ora

    Introduce a Māori health card

    Establish a kaupapa Māori mental health service

    Make Māori eligible for cancer screenings 10 years earlier

    Increase funding to Māori cultural and artistic organisations

    Establish a Toi Māori entity to support Māori culture and art

    Establish a Māori Parliament

    Overhaul the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process

    Return conservation land to whānau, hapū and iwi

    Entrench Māori electorate seats

    Appoint a Parliamentary Commissioner for the Treaty of Waitangi

    Require all legislation and regulation to have Treaty impact statements

    Establish a Māori sporting body

    Establish authority to oversee Māori language funding and audit providers

    Fund Māori farmers to transition from emissions-intensive farming

    Fund Māori owned community energy projects

    Acknowledge Māori rights over fresh water

    Ensure that water rights are allocated fairly

    Remove the British royal family as head of state

    Develop a national Māori strategy for renewable energy and clean technology

    Phase out industrial coal burning by 2030

    Establish climate change adaptation plans with whānau, hapū and iwi

    Commit all Māori to the Māori electoral roll

    Prevent referenda from overturning decisions to establish Māori wards

    Oppose research or commercialisation of indigenous plants without whānau, hapū and iwi consent

    Oppose genetically engineered food

    Increase intellectual property protections for indigenous seeds

    Establish entity to enforce Māori rights and access to food

    Create a contestable fund to support community food production and distribution

    Set aside more urban and rural land for farming

    Provide scholarships for young people to study food science, marine biology or agriculture

    Fund regenerative and organic farming training

    Support the creation of Māori supermarket chains

    Support people selling home grown food at the community level

    Build 2000 houses on Māori land over two years

    Allocate half of new social housing to Māori

    Ban freehold land sales to foreign investors

    Provide free primary health, dental care and medication to low income families

    Support mātauranga Māori models of health

    Establish kaupapa Māori legal units at community law centres

    Adopt all Waitangi Tribunal recommendations relating to the justice system

    Replace the Independent Police Conduct Authority with entity with Māori representation

    Allow all prisoners to vote

    Enable mental health professionals to attend emergency mental health incidents

    Increase funding for Whānau Ora and drug abuse prevention

    Establish a Māori child protection agency

    Stop newborns from being put into state care without family, hapū or iwi consent

    Review Oranga Tamariki's child protection protocols

    Establish a Māori disability authority

    Involve Māori disability organisations in policy development

    Increase funding for Māori providers of the Enabling Good Lives programme

    Improve access to health services for disabled people

    Aim to ensure antenatal screening programmes are not biased towards termination if disability is diagnosed

    Make Māori sign language an official language

    Increase the number of users of Māori sign-language

    Enable Māori disabled people to access cultural spaces and activities

    Enable Māori disabled people to participate in sport

  • Stop using te reo Māori names for government departments

    Abolish Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority

    Withdraw from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People

    Remove Te Mana o te Wai from freshwater resource consenting

    Ensure community policing initiatives are adequately funded

  • Remove regulatory barriers to allow Māori to build on their own land

    Establish an inquiry into land dispossession due to breaches of Te Tiriti

    Remove the bar on historical Te Tiriti claims

    Allow the Waitangi Tribunal to make non-binding recommendations regarding private land

    Prevent Māori land from being forcibly taken under the Public Works Act

    Abolish perpetual leases on Māori land

    Provide free mental health services for children and young people

    Safeguard the rights of tamariki Māori to maintain connection to their whakapapa

    Pass a Climate Change Adaptation Bill

    Ensure climate adaptation planning affirms tino rangatiratanga

    Reform the Reserves Act to incorporate te Tiriti o Waitangi

    Properly resource Māori oral health services

    Establish a citizens’ assembly to consider constitutional reform

    Ensure resource management or local government system changes uphold tino rangatiratanga

    Create a national food strategy

    Support indigenous agricultural practices

    Increase funding for indigenous forests

    Uphold Treaty rights in relation to indigenous forests on public land

    Implement Te Mana o te Wai for water management

    Increase funding to protect natural wetlands

    Reduce social and economic disparities faced by wāhine Māori

    Strengthen Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority

    Train healthcare workers to reduce biases

    Work with unions, employers and Māori to transition to a low emissions economy

    Prioritise the Māori economy in developing low-emissions jobs

    Fund marae and Māori organisation-led te reo Māori education initiatives

    Fund tikanga Māori and te reo Māori education

    Integrate mātauranga Māori concepts into decision making around natural resource use

    Resource marae as community hubs

    Reduce risk of sudden infant death among Māori

    Clarify the role of Te Tiriti in local government

    Deliver mental health and addiction programmes targeted at Māori

    Ensure individuals with Māori heritage are eligible for citizenship

    Train public servants in te Tiriti o Waitangi and te reo Māori

    Facilitate the return of wrongfully alienated land to tangata whenua

    Increase funding for the Waitangi Tribunal

    Abandon the 'large natural grouping' method in Treaty settlements

    Implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

    Adjust bereavement leave entitlements

    Increase funding for Māori to build on their own land

    Establish an ocean commission to provide advice and set targets for marine systems

    Create a fund for developing mātauranga and tikanga-based ocean management tools

    Expand marine protected areas to cover 30 percent of NZ's oceans

Key policiesLand and resourcesTe Tiriti o Waitangi and governanceTe reo Māori and cultureWellbeing and services

  • Develop credit system to encourage conservation on private land

    Continue to invest in Te Haeata, the online database of Treaty commitments

    Investigate a fast-track process for recognition of Māori landmarks and street names

    Create a process for community-led rāhui

    Increase funding and support for statistical data about whānau Māori

    Consider funding iwi and hapū to protect and display tāonga tūturu

    Continue to invest in housing for Māori

    Support Māori to better access funds to install sustainable infrastructure on marae and papakainga

    Introduce a papakainga planning standard

    Make funding for Māori health providers equitable

    Promote Te Reo Māori in early childhood education

    Expand te reo Māori education programmes

    Encourage government agencies and organisations to develop Te Reo Māori language development plans

    Increase funding for Māori language revitalisation strategies

    Invest in the growth of the Māori food and fibre export sector

    Continue to fund free Māori trade training

    Continue to fund Matariki events and celebrations

    Continue to fund Te Matatini

    Continue to support Māori Crown relations – Te Arawhiti

    Encourage local councils and boards to create Māori wards

    Retain Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority

    Investigate support for Wānanga

    Ensure that career services are available to Māori students

    Continue working with iwi and hapū to include local tikanga and pūrakau in the curriculum

    Continue to support Māori media

    Consider supporting Māori language community initiatives

    Increas funding for Te Reo Māori revitalisation

    Support indigenous tourism opportunities

    Continue programme to provide young Māori with a path out of criminal offending

    Continue programmes to lower the proportion of Māori in the corrections system

    Continue to support Jobs for Nature projects

    Protect Māori commercial and customary fishing rights

    Support iwi and hapū-led solutions to protect sites affected by sea level rises

    Consider a fund for Māori climate change researchers and scientists

    Recognise Māori expertise in indigenous development in connection with international projects

    Protect indigenous intellectual property rights in trade agreements

    Continue supporting progressive home ownership funds for Māori

    Explore low interest loan finance and grants for housing projects for whānau

    Provide more opportunities for whānau visits in prisons using new technology

    Improve study and employment options for Māori health workers

  • Abolish Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority

  • Oppose co-governance

  • Abolish the Human Rights Commission

    Abolish Te Puni Kōkiri

    Replace the Office for Crown-Māori Relations with an Office of Treaty Settlements

    Remove a public holiday

    Hold a referendum on the interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi

    Repeal all or part of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act

    Repeal the Treaty of Waitangi clause in the Oranga Tamariki Act

    Remove Ngāi Tahu representatives from the Canterbury Regional Council

    Remove government agencies' focus on the Treaty of Waitangi

    Prevent the implementation of Māori seats on Auckland Council

    Abolish Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority

    Ignore the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

    Expand water supply exemption to include suppliers of fewer than 30 users

    Remove Te Mana o te Wai from freshwater resource consenting

    Abolish Māori wards

  • Establish a Māori legal aid service

    Establish a Māori criminal justice system based on tikanga

    Change NZ's name to Aotearoa by 2026

    Replace all place names with their original Māori names by 2026

    Establish a Māori Standards Authority

    Increase funding for Te Aka Whai Ora

    Introduce a Māori health card

    Establish a kaupapa Māori mental health service

    Make Māori eligible for cancer screenings 10 years earlier

    Increase funding to Māori cultural and artistic organisations

    Establish a Toi Māori entity to support Māori culture and art

    Establish a Māori Parliament

    Overhaul the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process

    Return conservation land to whānau, hapū and iwi

    Entrench Māori electorate seats

    Appoint a Parliamentary Commissioner for the Treaty of Waitangi

    Require all legislation and regulation to have Treaty impact statements

    Establish a Māori sporting body

    Establish authority to oversee Māori language funding and audit providers

    Fund Māori farmers to transition from emissions-intensive farming

    Fund Māori owned community energy projects

    Acknowledge Māori rights over fresh water

    Ensure that water rights are allocated fairly

    Remove the British royal family as head of state

    Develop a national Māori strategy for renewable energy and clean technology

    Phase out industrial coal burning by 2030

    Establish climate change adaptation plans with whānau, hapū and iwi

    Commit all Māori to the Māori electoral roll

    Prevent referenda from overturning decisions to establish Māori wards

    Oppose research or commercialisation of indigenous plants without whānau, hapū and iwi consent

    Oppose genetically engineered food

    Increase intellectual property protections for indigenous seeds

    Establish entity to enforce Māori rights and access to food

    Create a contestable fund to support community food production and distribution

    Set aside more urban and rural land for farming

    Provide scholarships for young people to study food science, marine biology or agriculture

    Fund regenerative and organic farming training

    Support the creation of Māori supermarket chains

    Support people selling home grown food at the community level

    Build 2000 houses on Māori land over two years

    Allocate half of new social housing to Māori

    Ban freehold land sales to foreign investors

    Provide free primary health, dental care and medication to low income families

    Support mātauranga Māori models of health

    Establish kaupapa Māori legal units at community law centres

    Adopt all Waitangi Tribunal recommendations relating to the justice system

    Replace the Independent Police Conduct Authority with entity with Māori representation

    Allow all prisoners to vote

    Enable mental health professionals to attend emergency mental health incidents

    Increase funding for Whānau Ora and drug abuse prevention

    Establish a Māori child protection agency

    Stop newborns from being put into state care without family, hapū or iwi consent

    Review Oranga Tamariki's child protection protocols

    Establish a Māori disability authority

    Involve Māori disability organisations in policy development

    Increase funding for Māori providers of the Enabling Good Lives programme

    Improve access to health services for disabled people

    Aim to ensure antenatal screening programmes are not biased towards termination if disability is diagnosed

    Make Māori sign language an official language

    Increase the number of users of Māori sign-language

    Enable Māori disabled people to access cultural spaces and activities

    Enable Māori disabled people to participate in sport

  • Stop using te reo Māori names for government departments

    Abolish Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority

    Withdraw from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People

    Remove Te Mana o te Wai from freshwater resource consenting

    Ensure community policing initiatives are adequately funded

  • Remove regulatory barriers to allow Māori to build on their own land

    Establish an inquiry into land dispossession due to breaches of Te Tiriti

    Remove the bar on historical Te Tiriti claims

    Allow the Waitangi Tribunal to make non-binding recommendations regarding private land

    Prevent Māori land from being forcibly taken under the Public Works Act

    Abolish perpetual leases on Māori land

    Provide free mental health services for children and young people

    Safeguard the rights of tamariki Māori to maintain connection to their whakapapa

    Pass a Climate Change Adaptation Bill

    Ensure climate adaptation planning affirms tino rangatiratanga

    Reform the Reserves Act to incorporate te Tiriti o Waitangi

    Properly resource Māori oral health services

    Establish a citizens’ assembly to consider constitutional reform

    Ensure resource management or local government system changes uphold tino rangatiratanga

    Create a national food strategy

    Support indigenous agricultural practices

    Increase funding for indigenous forests

    Uphold Treaty rights in relation to indigenous forests on public land

    Implement Te Mana o te Wai for water management

    Increase funding to protect natural wetlands

    Reduce social and economic disparities faced by wāhine Māori

    Strengthen Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority

    Train healthcare workers to reduce biases

    Work with unions, employers and Māori to transition to a low emissions economy

    Prioritise the Māori economy in developing low-emissions jobs

    Fund marae and Māori organisation-led te reo Māori education initiatives

    Fund tikanga Māori and te reo Māori education

    Integrate mātauranga Māori concepts into decision making around natural resource use

    Resource marae as community hubs

    Reduce risk of sudden infant death among Māori

    Clarify the role of Te Tiriti in local government

    Deliver mental health and addiction programmes targeted at Māori

    Ensure individuals with Māori heritage are eligible for citizenship

    Train public servants in te Tiriti o Waitangi and te reo Māori

    Facilitate the return of wrongfully alienated land to tangata whenua

    Increase funding for the Waitangi Tribunal

    Abandon the 'large natural grouping' method in Treaty settlements

    Implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

    Adjust bereavement leave entitlements

    Increase funding for Māori to build on their own land

    Establish an ocean commission to provide advice and set targets for marine systems

    Create a fund for developing mātauranga and tikanga-based ocean management tools

    Expand marine protected areas to cover 30 percent of NZ's oceans

Compare the candidates running in your local area


Each part of the country is represented in Parliament by an electorate MP. We've asked every candidate about their priorities for your community and why they deserve your vote.

Explore